La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 21-28, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Landon Verhoven shows off his first striped marlin with Captain Armando. The fish was hooked on a little sardine, and they had a double hook-up going on marlin with two fish leaping and heading in opposite directions at the same time. Both fish were released. Cerralvo Island in the distance. Landon is from Los Angeles.
She looks a little tires! It’s her biggest roosterfish! From Loveland, Colorado, our amiga, Kelly Jimenez, has been fishing 8 years with us. She landed (and released) this big roosterfish just off the shore near Bahia Muertos with Captain Pancho. She and her daughter caught and released 14 smaller roosterfish as well.
Lots of bull dorado for Taylor Kooiman and Geoff Wilkinson from Los Angeles. Fishing with the Tailhunter Fishing Fleet in La Paz, they said they hooked another 12 fish and released them all before 9 a.m.
Lucien and his dad Jacob Sanders started off their trip with a boatload of dorado! They had two solid days of dorado fishing. They’re from Bellflower CA.
Yea…that’s the right kind! Captain Pancho smiles with Brandon and Tanya McGarr all the way from Rock Springs, Wyoming with a great mix of dorado and snapper/ pargo.
Three generations of the Rudloff family with Captain Adolfo. Bob, son Jason and grandson, Jacob with dorado and…check out the nice snapper and pargo lisos!
Trevor Hefner pulled this nice dog-tooth snapper (pargo Colorado) out’ve the rocks near Bahia Muertos fishing a sardine just outside of Bahia Muertos
Paul Zuelke with Captain Victor and a giant pompano he caught off Bahia Muertos! Paul was on his first visit with us from Washington.
Double handfuls of mahi-mahi forJustin Grasmeyer Tommy Groe who got quick limits and released alot of their fish as well.
Nicely done on the spinning rod! A great photo of young Lucien Jacobs.
One of our long-time amigos, Diego Jimenez, with grandson, Roman from Colorado with a nice rack of dorado to start out their trip!
Mahi fillets headed for Wyoming! A table-full of dorado for Brandon and Tanya McGarr. Always good to see them!
First dorado for his daughter, Mikaila, Diego helps with the pose!
It feels like summer! Hot, humid Baja the way it’s supposed to be…finally! Very tropical conditions with daytime temps in the high 90’s to low 100’s now and lots of humidity. Everyone has their AC going which has caused some intermittent short power outtages in town, but overall a nice time to be on the water and hitting the beach.
With the tropical conditions, we are getting some brief, but sometimes very strong rainstorms with flash flooding, lightning and thunder in the later afternoons and evenings that blow through certain areas then quickly dissipate.
Afternoon storms like this one are not uncommon this time of year. We had two of them this week that swept in and swept out within minutes but flooded streets. Then the sun came back out. Everyone was done fishing when the storms hit!
These storms can be pretty ferocious and noisy when they blow in. Very tropical. Then, they blow right back out! They can get pretty noisy with thunder and lightning. This is the view in front of Tailhunter Restaurant. We got strong winds, but only a few drops of rain. The other side of town got totally flooded for about an hour!
For the fishing, the dorado are finally the focus of our fishing efforts as the waters have finally warmed and turned blue, although there’s still some colder green patches around. Schools of dorado or individual fish ranging from 5-30 pounds have been the norm. If you find the right spot, you can load up on limits in short order and/or catch-and-release as fast as you can let a fish go and hook up another one!
Roosterfish are still around although not as many showing up in the counts. That could be the result of more people targeting “meat” fish like dorado and other species so there’s not that much attention being paid to roosterfish which all get released because they don’t eat well. We’ve had some 30-60 pound roosters, but then other days when it’s not uncommon to catch up to a dozen smaller roosters from a school and release them all.
We’re still getting an unusual number of big pargo liso (mullet snapper) that are normally cold water fish from the late winter and early spring. I’ve never seen so many this late in the season, especially when it’s this warm. But that is probably because there’s still some cold patches of water here and there. These are tough mean powerful fish and make for great sport and eating.
No tuna or wahoo to speak of although tuna keep popping up but head down quickly unwilling to bite or disappearing before we can get on them. A few marlin hooked and released.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 14-21, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Not a bad start! Leif Dover (right) celebrating his bachelor party with Brian O’Neil kicked off their trip with a load of dorado and snapper out’ve Las Arenas. Both guys are long-time Tailhunter amigos and are from Atlanta GA.
Crazy to be catching these big mullet snapper (pargo liso) so late in the year, but Diana Hernandez and Mark Buchanan from San Diego pulled several of these tough fish out’ve the rocks.
They were done fishing early with limits of dorado. Kennedy Dixon poses with fish on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
Don has big smiles and a big rooster ready to photo and release just off the rocks at Punta Perrico.
Captain Rogelio with a great photo and tasty pargo mulato with Grayson Richmond from Colorado near the cliffs off Espirito Santo Island.
Jim Looney has a nice bull dorado just outside of Bahia Muertos.
Her biggest rooster after so many trips with us, Angela Farrell from Oceanside CA, with her favorite captain Moncho. Estimated size was 60 pounds and Angela released the fish.
Another good day with meat for the ice chest, Brian O’Neil and Leif Dover showing dorado, snapper, pargo liso and cabrilla. Quite a variety! They said they lost some huge pargo in the rocks and just couldn’t get the big fish headed up.
Pargo liso for Diana. Good eating members of the snapper family, they usually spawn and school up in the spring. Unusual for us to be catching them in the summer.
Beautiful beach shot of Don and his jack crevalle off Punta Arenas. The fish was released and are members of the jack family. Same as the roosterfish without the mohawk fin.
Family day, Captain Pancho’s family out for the day (Carlos y Marisol), nailed the dorado and a big fat pargo. You better catch fish when it’s your own family!
Our Colorado, buddy Bill Richmond, with some inshore light tackle pargo in flat seas.
Big jack crevalle for Brian. Fish was released.
It’s finally feeling more like summer-time with both the weather (hot); the waters (warmer and bluer) and the fishing (almost there!). We still had some flurries of crazy winds, but overall, it’s seemingly more typical overall. It’s just that it seems like this fishing season, it’s taking it’s sweet time getting up to speed.
Dorado AND pargo? One is decidedly a warm water fish. The latter is a cold water fish! And catching them the same day? Sometimes in the same spot? Crazy!
Surely, the dorado are the best indication since these are the hallmark of our warmer months. We’ve had them on-and-off with out La Paz fishing fleets, but strangely, it’s not been quite so good with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet until about a week or so ago when the dorado seemed to have finally got into the game.
This past week, some boats were limiting on the dorado by mid-morning with most fish in the 10-25 pound class. Catches were rounded out with bonito, skipjack, jack crevalle, and rockfish like cabrilla and snapper. Or, in a few cases, the folks just figured they had a good day and came back to shore early to have lunch and lay by the pool or beach! Either way, a good day.
However, just a note that there must still be some cold water around and lingering wisps of springtime insofar as we’re still hanging some big dog-tooth and mullet snapper that normally, we stop seeing about April and are usually spawning in schools during the springtime. It’s rare to have them this deep into the summer. But, anglers were still catching them or at least hooking these powerful fish and getting broken off in the rocks.
No wahoo to speak of this week. We had a few tuna hooked up, but lost and billfish as well. Most folks were concentrating on the easier dorado bite. Only a few roosterfish as well, but again, that’s probably a function of the fact that the dorado are taking over everyone’s focus.
It’s feeling really tropical lately. Humidity is way up and some sporadic brief rainshowers, especially, in the afternoons are not uncommon . Time to get the trashbag and cut out some holes for your arms and head!
TAILHUNTER COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Because we’ve been filled with so many fishing photos, I’ve been slacking on something even more important in the big scheme of things. Every year our Tailhunter Tribe member bring hundreds and hundreds of pound of donations to us for distribution in the community.
It’s a program that my wife, Jilly, started and it’s been incredibly successful because of our amigos like you. The need is real and so are the smiles. These are just some of the big-hearted folks who have brought stuff to us (I’m sorry I don’t have everyone’s photos), but the gratitude is huge.
Justin and dad, Adam, Larson.
The Toeniskoetter Family
Brian brings down several full suitcases every year stuff with clothes and other needed items.
LaPaz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 7-14, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Our amigo, Ken Chaplin from Washington, has fished and hunted all over the world and always does well with us at Tailhunter. His first day on the water with us he got into some big roosters including tangling with this beast just outside of Bahia Muertos. The fish was released.
While fishing close to the rocky shallows of Espirito Santo Island for rockfish like cabrilla and pargo and snapper, Mike Garcia said he let his “sardine swim the wrong way away from the rocks and wasn’t paying attention” when his line took off and he found himself hooked on this big-headed bull dorado. The fish was brought to gaff after a long fight. Mike is from Houston TX and was fishing with Captain Rogelio with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet .
A couple of nice great-eating rock fish including a pargo liso and yellow snapper for our amigo, Steve Kechichian, currently living in Seattle.
Mike Garcia from Houston was fishing with his dad, Eddie who lives in Boston and on their first trip to La Paz fishing with Tailhunter Sportfishing. They were in shallow water close to shore fishing for dorado and roosters, when this big striped marlin hit his sardine on light 30-pound test line. Mike battled the fish for over 2 hours and finally got it on board for a quick photos and released the fish swimming away strong . Love the facial expression! Yea, Mike!
That’s a pig of a roosterfish! Captain Victor gives Jean Edwards a hand with this giant roosterfish so she can get the photo and get it released. Early in the week, they were all big roosters and have been for several weeks.
Another cold-water fish, but no one is complaining are these giant pompano that have shown up in the shallows. Scott Miller got this guy out’ve Bahia Muertos. Scott is from Washington and this was his first trip with Tailhunter.
He’s now 14-years-old and we’ve known Grayson Richmond from Colorado since he was a youngster and he’s always been quite a fisherman. With Captain Moncho, he got into this nice jack crevalle.
It’s a pretty smile for a pretty dorado. Great colors! Captain Archangel and Ron Kellogg help out wife, Leona with the photo. More dorado showing weekly.
That’s alot of bull! (dorado). Nicole Balbas holds up the lighter end of her bull dorado with a smiling Captain Gerardo.
I love this photo of Kathy Wong as her pargo looks like it’s trying to biter her in the ear as Captain Armando holds onto the gaff.
Matt Brown from Cupertino CA came to La Paz fishing for a 2nd time and got his first roosterfish. He ended up hooking and releasing 3 nice roosterfish like this one just off the beach at Punta Arenas.
Eddie Garcia came all the way out from Boston to fish with us for the first time and I’m only sorry he’s a little blocked by the tail of his dorado held up by Captain Jorge . Eddies is holding onto the pargo liso. Good to have Eddie with us this week. Really enjoyed his visit.
Nice cabrilla for Ed Mitoma with Captain Alfredo looking on. Big cabrilla like this trophy have been a great bite lately.
Double pair of barred pargo for Mike Fisher and Chuck Williams from Washington on their first visit to La Paz with us.
First day…first big dorado in hand and in the photo for Jim Looney.
Nothing like your first rooster and the roosters have been feisty lately. Scott Miller gives a grin before releasing the fish.
Love this guy! Bill Richmond has visited us many times of the years and is always a welcome friend . He worked hard this week when the fishing was scratchy but ended up with alot of species to take home including this tasty pompano. Punta Arenas in the background.
What a mix of fish. Exactly what I’ve been referring to. We’ve got warm and cold water fish all mixing it up these days like the dorado, cabrilla, triggerfish, snapper and pargo on the cleaning table at Bahia Muertos.
Hidden by the dorsal fin of this big rooster is Captain Arcangel helping Mike Fisher photo his fish before letting it go.
Big roosters can hurt strong men! The bend on the rod and braced agains the gunwale and deckchair, Ken Chaplin battles a big roosterfish.
On the flyrod! G-man (Grayson Richmond) released this tough jack crevalle .
Again…such a variety of fish on the table. Nicole and Ed Balbas with Captain Gerardo hold onto a yellowtail plus yellow snapper and pompano on the beach at Muertos.
Once again, the fishing remains unseasonably crazy. It’s mid-July, but the fishing still hasn’t quite caught up with the calendar. It’s still more like April-May fishing…than summertime fishing.
Normally, we should be thick into the bluewater species that inhabit the warm waters and warmer seasons. Our fishing reports should be full of dorado, tuna, wahoo, billfish and the like. We should be talking about hot sunny weather and flat balmy Baja seas.
But, it’s not like that and Mother Nature is only grudgingly moving to where it should be. She’s not going easy. For instance, we still have erratic un-predictable winds that pop up from nowhere and tear up the sea. A few miles away, it’s flat. We have blistering sunny weather one day that feel like a tropical sauna. By afternoon, it’s raining. Or we have days when it’s overcast and heavily clouded.
One day waters are blue. Next day, or even later in the day, the waters turn green, cold and turbid with strong currents. Or, one day dorado bite and the next day, we see all kinds of dorado, but they could not care less about biting a bait or jig!
Sure, we’re seeing more dorado and bigger dorado. And that is a good sign. And a few billfish mixed in. Plus assorted large and small roosterfish, bonito, and jack crevalle. But, we are still catching crazy cold-water fish like spawning pargo, cabrilla, amberjack and even fish like sierra and yellowtail, the latter two being definite cold-water species.
That just tells me that there’s warm surface water, but below that, there’s a strong layer of colder water holding these other species.
Everyone is catching fish. It’s just that the bite is unpredictable and varied.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of
July 1-7 ,2019
WEEK at a GLANCE
Water – Calming down and getting bluer and warmer. Surface temp about 80 degrees. Colder thermocline 30-60 feet down drops another 5-15 degrees. Still choppy some days especially in the mornings.
Weather – Consistently highs in the mid-90’s and nighttime cools to mid-70’s. Feels warmer some days, but then the afternoon breeze cools things down. Very tropical
Wind – Mostly better than other weeks. Calming down hopefully. Did have one day at Las Arenas/ Muertos where a baby storm went through and made it tough to go out for about an hour or so, but then it blew out and the folks got out on the water. We just waited it out.
Fishing – Lots of variety, but more of the warm water-water fish like dorado becoming more prominent. No wahoo, but fish caught this week included lots of big roosterfish (Las Arenas); dorado (La Paz); pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle, skipjack, bonito, amberjack, pompano, yellowtail, palometa, snapper, baja grouper, marlin, sailfish.
Fish Scale of 1-10: A solid 6
MEXICAN MINUTE WEEKLY VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE AND THE REST of the STORY…
Captain Gerardo gives Erik Foraker from Washington a hand with a big roosterfish caught and released off Punta Arenas. The fish was released and 3 were caught that day off the panga.
Mike and Jacquiline Aguilar caught 3 big roosterfish including this beast on a single day. All fish were released.
Miles and Sydney Wagner with big-time bull dorado there at Bahia Muertos staying at their dad, Gary’s place at Rancho Costa.
One of my favorite photos of the week. Captain Jorge gives a thumbs-up to Will’s big roosterfish. Will is from Denver and released the fish.
That’s alot of fish for an 11-year-old, but Levi Moore from Encinitas CA did the job on this big roosterfish then took the photo and let it go to swim strong!
Our buddy who never stops smiling! Rick Kasper has a handful if dorado for the camera then the grill. Rick is a hunting guide and TV personality in Wyoming and Arizona.
Just off the beach, Anabel, holds up a pretty roosterfish for the camera before letting it go.
And another roosterfish for Erik and captain Gerardo doing the great photo-bomb for the camera!
Deno and Mark Buchanan with the big tuna of the week hooked off Cerralvo Island.
Beautiful and rarely caught Baja Grouper or Golden Grouper taken by Vern Marschall who spent the week with us and fished two days . He caught this one off Espirito Santo Island.
The roosterfish is almost bigger than Jacqueline!
Colorful shot and another rooster on deck for Eric Ryan who released the fish.
Headed back to the hotel grill with two legit dorado, Jason Wagner took these fish working that area just outside of Bahia Muertos.
Big smile for Nick Gatelein with his first roosterfish at dawn off Las Arenas. Good way to start your day!
Incredible colors on this big dorado caught by Anabel not far off the rocks at Punta Perrico.
The tired satisfaction of besting a big fish is evident on our buddy, Ed Mitoma, who finally got his big roosterfish then realeased it . He also had another one on the line that got away. Punta Arenas in the background.
Another one for the camera! Levi Moore was on a roll with another roosterfish caught-and-released.
All the way from Kansas, Lilly Korbach, has a pretty smile for a pretty jack crevalle. She was staying at Rancho Costa there in Bahia Muertos.
1..2..3…LIFT! It’s a handful for 14-year-old Seth Moore and his big rooster almost as long as he is tall! Despite it’s looks, the fish swam off strongly upon release.
From Paso Robles, CA and on his first venture with Tailhunter Sportfishing, Scott McGuire put quite a few dorado like this on the hook.
Kris Korbach poses another big one for the camera shot then quickly released the big roosterfish.
That is one giant needlefish! Andy Lauber from New Orleans took this beast.
Weather was a little more agreeable this past week although we had one bit of a bump. We caught a lot of different species again as well including: snapper, pargo, jack crevalle, pompano, marlin, sailfish, several types of bonito, yellowtail, tuna and others. However, the hotshots this week all came down pretty much to two species: Dorado and roosterfish.
Pompano still biting. Jacqueline Aguilar does the honors.
First day out…first day on the water…first marlin! Andrew Tawaroski from Florida with Captain Gerardo . Andrew released the pretty fish.
Jules caught this football tuna off Bahia Muertos.
DORADO
For the most part, this is the time of year when we should be swarming with dorado. However, this year started pretty sluggishly with these warm-water species as waters have been taking their time getting warmer and no thanks to the pestering cool winds that have plagued us for months.
But, it seems like the fishing is finding it’s stride.
There are still patches of cold green water. There are still erratic currents that push the bite and the baits off the mark. But, this past week it was a lot more consistent although still not fully up-to-speed. Nevertheless we saw more and larger dorado in the counts, especially for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet that fishes north from the city towards Espirito Santo Island and around Punta Coyote and Punta Mejia.
Those areas not only produced some great shallow-water fishing for the pargo, cabrilla, amberjack and snapper, but the shallows also produced dorado without having to go too far off or venturing to some of the other high spots or finding floating sargasso weed the dorado could also be found.
What a great shot and check the colors of Lauren and her dorado off Espirito Santo Island. Great smile too!
It wasn’t full turbo and not every panga caught fish every day, but over-all pretty consistent on the dorado. It could be a day of picking off a fish here-and-there all day. It could be a day where one panga found the dorado and the boat next to it couldn’t buy a bite. It could be a day where it was slow for hours then all heck-breaks-loose in a frenzy of action…then it dies. Just no way to tell.
That’s the right kind! Bull dorado headed for the fish box for Andy Lauber from New Orleans. Check out the flat ocean behind him! Like glass.
You could run into a school of firecracker-sized dinks or a group of larger bigger fish. Or, it could be one big fish of the day. But, the dorado are definitely around.
You don’t have to go far for bluewater sportfishing here! Eric Ryan caught this pretty dorado right off the rocky cliffs of Espirito Santo Island in shallow water.
ROOSTERFISH
The bigger story continues to be the roosterfish.
As one of our guys told me,
“I’ve never seen so many roosterfish in one spot. We were hooked on two of them but others that looked like giants were boiling right next to the panga. We could have caught all we wanted all day long if our arms held out!
Firs roosterfish for Taryn Mitoma! Punta Arenas beach in the background. Taryn did a great job in releasing the fish.
In all my years here, I have never seen this kind of rooster season. We are catching and releasing as many fish in one week as we might catch in several months of fishing.
One more rooster! Seth and Levi Moore!
Fish are running 10-70 pounds and actually schooling in big groups and boiling on the surface in feeding frenzies! Anglers coming down to just catch one fish for the bucket list end up hanging 2 or 3 in a single day and losing others.
“I fought two roosterfish for almost an hour each and that was it! It was still early and I wanted to back to the beach. If we never caught another fish the rest of the week, those two fish made my trip. Seeing them swim away was awesome!”
Will from Denver holds up another one for the camera.
He’ll grow up to be a monster! Nick Gatelein on deck at sunrise .
Pretty much all the fish are getting released and they’re really close to shore in shallow water. Using mostly the large 12-inch ladyfish for bait, some of the battles are lasting well near an hour-or-more and exhausting anglers, especially first-timers having fun, but not used to the strain these big fish can put on arms, backs, legs and fingers!
“I finally got the roosterfish off my bucket list. But, I paid the price. A big blister on my finger and sore arms. Never thought a fish could be so strong. Great time!”
Mike Aguilar has another!
Right on top of the rocks! Vern holds up his rooster.
Almost all of these fish are being caught by our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet and the fish are scattered from the Punta Arenas lighthouse down to Boca de Alamo then also around Espirito Santo Island.
Of note, at the beginning of the week we did have a “torito” (small bull) hit around our Las Arenas area. While La Paz stayed flat calm, when our boats at Muertos Bay were ready to go out, suddenly the torito hit which is essentially a small localized wind/rainstorm almost like a baby hurricane. They come out’ve nowhere with no warning. It whips the winds and waves and no one could get off the beach.
But, they can blow over quickly. We kept everyone in the vans and decided to wait it out rather tha come back to town. Surely enough, about 90 minutes later the winds died and, although the waters remained choppy, our anglers finally got out on the water. Fishing was less than stellar, but fortunately, the big roosterfish stuck around!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 23-30, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY….
Dave Lester from Temecula CA with another beast roosterfish for the camera before putting it back in the water. Dave and his 3 buddies estimate they hooked and released 31 roosterfish over 4 days.
What beast is this? DJ Bovee from San Diego fishes with us several times a year and hooked this massive bull dorado, the likes of which we have not seen in years!
Enzo Moreno is just 11-years-old from San Antonio, Texas. He caught and fought a marlin all by himself; he caught numerous other species including dorado and put this hefty yellowtail in the box as well.
Zach Smith had an eventful 2 days of fishing with us. His first day he hooked this pretty striped marlin. The fish could not be released and Zach donated all the meat to the local folks who welcomed the fresh fish
Our fun amigos for many years who always do well, Tim and Angela Farrell from Oceanside, CA with their favorite Captain Moncho and a handful of tough-fighting pargo liso and yellow snapper!
Pretty as could be. Joe has another pretty roosterfish to the boat to photo and release. The roosters were sure thick this week.
This might be my favorite photo of the week. Nina Moreno and Captain Rogelio mug for the camera with Espirito Santo island right behind them just a stone’s throw away.
Big fish…big mouth! The kind that can inhale a 12-inch-long bait! Ron Burgess gets a hand from Captain Moncho. Fish was released.
That’s a handful of pargo liso for Dave Gee from San Francisco who grimaces to hold the stout fish for the camera. Great eating meat!
From Florida, our long-time amigo, Al Burgess needs to take a seat after battling this 100 + pound yellowfin tuna off Cerralvo Island for almost 2 hours!
Kim Hunt and Gabe Lao are doing their best to subdue this feisty rooster so they can take a photo and release it, but the rooster is having none of that and smacks them all over the place. Great effort by Kim and Gabe who caught 4 roosters this day.
Shaka sign from Captain Luis and Cathy Boos from Washington posing with one of her La Paz dorado.
Tom Hoey and Terry Hawk with the right kind of dorado! They hooked this legit pair off Muertos Bay. Some of the largest dorado of the season!
This is a great photo. It’s not often over the 2 decades that we’ve gotten Captain Arcangel to smile, but we got him here with Jonah Voigstberger from Bakersfield and her first rooster. Caught and released.
No shortage of fun and crazy fishing when the schools of jack crevalle move in like this one caught by Alise Ferguson from Colorado Springs CO. Las Arenas Beach and lighthouse nearby.
Victor with some tasty pargo lisos.
Nothing like starting off your day with a trophy catch of a roosterfish right off the bat for Joe and quickly released.
Zach Smith and Captain Fili give Nick Tovar (right) a hand posing with his sailfish on the beach at Bahia Muertos. Nick was not able to release the fish and donated all the meat to local families.
These fish might not look big, but hit and fight like freight trains. Kent holds up a colorful pargo liso he managed to pull from the rocks.
An incredible shot! Off Cerralvo Island, Captain Moncho poses with one roosterfish while Ron Burgess already has another big rooster on the line!
Alot of good eating and variety on the fish cleaning table including big triggerfish, pargo, yellow snapper and cabrilla (seabass) for Jonah and John Voigtsberger.
Captain Gerardo with the thumbs-up photo bomb of Dave Boos and his roosterfish.
From Kentucky, Chase Wallis staying at Bahia Muertos in the Rancho Costa Resort got himself and big striped marlin after a good battle. He donated all of the meat to the local families when the fish could not be revived.
I love photos that are different and kooky like Nick and his big amberjack while he sports the cool beard and mustache face garb!
Fishing with us for years, Terry Hawk, has caught and released quite a few roosterfish with us.
Two great guys. Dave “Splash” Lopez and nephew Nick Gatelein from Los Angeles wit two pretty dog-tooth snapper.
Yes, pompano are still biting and yes, they are the largest I have ever seen down here in our waters in 25 years. Zach Smith has this one under control and released it.
Good amigo and owner of Rancho Costa Resort in Bahia Suenos, Gary Wagner with his son, Jason took this long roosterfish just outside of the bay. The fish was released.
The parade of weird and unusual fish continues. We’ve had milkfish…blue treval;y and now an island trevally. Another member of the diverse jack family. In 25 years, I’ve never seen one down here and neither had any of our captains.
I want to say it was really a great week of fishing. But, I can’t. So many times, I thought we were right on the verge of it, but then it got crazy again. For sure, we had some spectacular fishing and maybe one of the best if not the best fishing of the season.
However, the fishing is still all mixed up and unpredictable. Many folks caught the fish of a lifetime; or their largest; or their first or the most they have ever caught and that was great.
Gabe Lao, Elk Grove CA Roosterfish off the beach. Released.
But, there was just no getting a handle on what was biting . One day the bite was in one spot and the next, it was shut down. Clear blue water one day become green dirty water with current the next day. One panga rips up the fish and the boat next to it can’t get a bite. It was that kind of week.
I’m not sure where to start so let me break it out with our two different fleets. The fact that we have two fleets fishing two different areas often made the difference between having a good day or a so-so day!
For our La Paz Tailhunter Fleet
The week started well. This is where we’ve been getting yellowtail, amberjack, pargo and cabrilla and snapper. Plus lots of great eating white bonito. Really weird because these are all coldwater fish, except for the bonito! And it’s already 100 degrees and the end of June and beginning of July. For example yellowtail are a fish we usually don’t see much of after April or so!
However ,yellowtail between 15-25 pounds have been biting now for almost 3 weeks. By far our La Paz fishing north of town has been the most solid fishing most of the month.
If you wanted to just have a solid day of fun and action, this is where I had you fish. I could really depend on it doing well and everyone having fun.
Espirito Santo Island. Sy’s first dorado experience was a good one.
No, that’s not Richard Branson, but Rick Kasper has been on many TV shows and had his own hunting show for many years. He’s an old hand at fishing with us down here.
The weird thing, however, is that almost in the same spots where we were hooking the cold water fish, we were also hooking dorado which are warm water fish! The dorado ran 10-25 pounds and these are the kinds of fish we should be hooking this time of year. But with the presence of both fish, this means there’s a thermocline in the water column with warm waters about 81 degrees at the surface, but below that is a very chilly thermocline holding colder waters. This was confirmed by our scuba divers who ran into the colder water about 20-40 feet down.
Very unusual! But, like I said, everyone catching fish.
Until about mid-week. The fishing really died down. My captains told me cold green water with lots of current and strong winds kicked the bite to the curb. However, as the week went on…the bite came back little by little as temperatures rose again (we set a record 107 degrees Saturday) and waters calmed with dorado and other species once again getting active.
Nina hooks another one!
For our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet…
The week was mostly slow. But let me clarify.
Jack crevalle “Toro” Captain Fili and Zach Smith
There were fish biting! No doubt. There were lots of those cool white bonito. And pargo, jack crevalle, cabrilla and amberjack and (Needlefish…yuk).
Dave and a pretty and big yellow snapper.
But, the big pargo liso were schooling! These huge mullet snapper are 10-30 pounds and are really difficult fish in the shallow waters, but these fish are normally schooling in these big groups in the colder waters of March and April.
Among the toughest and most difficult fish in our waters, pargo liso frustrate many an angler and frustrate strong men. However, Tim and Angela Farrell with Captain Moncho yanked these bad boys out’ve the rocks.
All of a sudden, here they are. The thing with them is that they are tough tough tough to catch. I have often told folks that if you get 10 hookups and get 2 or 3 to the boat, it’s about par.
So, folks were coming back saying what a tough day they had. Then, I’d find out they really hooked 6, 8, 10 pargo but busted them all off! That’s GOOD fishing…but bad CATCHING!
Pargo liso for Joe! Great eating.
Similarly, we had some tuna biting…and these were all 100+ pound beasts! 1 and 2 hour battles ended up with broken lines. In one case, our guys had the fish right next to the boat ready to stick the gaff after an epic battle and suddenly a huge shark rolls up and in two bites completely wipes out the fish!
Striped marlin waiting to be carted off to local homes.
Oh…and marlin and sailfish caught too finally although a couple of nice fish broke off. Best billfish bite of the season!
But the best part of the week…(drumroll)…ROOSTERFEST!!!
Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay is known as the “Roosterfish Capital of the World.” World record roosterfish up to 150 pounds have been caught on this beach area.
Well, this week, I’ve never seen the roosters go off like they did. I estimate almost 100 roosters were hooked and released between 5 and 70 pounders!
Captain Armando and Dave Lester in the Baja sunrise with an early big roosterfish released.
On a single day alone, our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet had 8 pangas on the water and got 35 roosterfish! That’s unheard of! One of our boats caught and released at least 10 fish. This doesn’t even include the fish that were lost or broke off!
From Denver, Adam Tarowoski got his first roosterfish this week. Fish was released.
Then, at the end of the week, another surprise. We have not had many dorado caught this year around the Las Arenas area. Most of the fish have been around La Paz. Other than an occasional dink fish, not much to speak of.
Wow!! That’s huge bull dorado! Whoa…Jen Wilson from Colorado Springs CO with one of the largest dorado of the season.
Well, all of a sudden we have bit 20-45 pound bull dorado in the water! Where’d they come from? We haven’t seen dorado of that size in 3 years.
It’s a strange strange season! Oh…and we broke heat records this week too. 107 degrees over the weekend.
Tailhunter Fish Report 